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Dead Constitution See other Dead Constitution Articles Title: Justice Department to release court orders on spy program Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said yesterday that he will turn over secret documents detailing the government's domestic spying program, ending a two-week standoff with the Senate Judiciary Committee over surveillance targeting terror suspects. "It's never been the case where we said we would never provide access," Gonzales said. "We obviously would be concerned about the public disclosure that may jeopardize the national security of our country. But we're working with the Congress to provide the information that it needs." The documents held by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court -- including investigators' applications for permission to spy and judges' orders -- were to be given to some lawmakers as early as yesterday. Gonzales said the documents would not be released publicly. "We're talking about highly classified documents about highly classified activities of the United States government," the attorney general said. The records will be given to Senator Patrick Leahy, the Vermont Democrat who heads the Senate Judiciary Committee, and the panel's top Republican, Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, who two weeks ago lambasted Gonzales for refusing to turn over documents. At the time, Gonzales said it was unclear whether the court orders could be released without exposing sensitive security information. The documents also will be available to lawmakers and staff members on the House and Senate intelligence committees. These people already were cleared to receive details about the controversial spy program. Leahy said he welcomed the Bush administration decision to release the documents, which he said he would review to decide "what further oversight or legislative action is necessary." Specter stopped short of calling for them to be publicly released but said, "There ought to be the maximum disclosure to the public, consistent with national security procedures." "They will not be made public until I've had a chance to see them," Specter said. The administration still won't release other documents that could explain how the court's orders comply with the 1978 surveillance law that the court oversees, said Representative Heather Wilson, a New Mexico Republican and a senior member of the House Intelligence Committee. She said the deal to release the documents stems from a briefing in front of that panel last week. "We are playing hide the ball down at the Justice Department," said Wilson, who has told Silvestre Reyes, the Texas Democrat who heads the House panel, that she will support a subpoena, if need be. The documents are being turned over two weeks after a testy Senate hearing, during which lawmakers criticized Gonzales for refusing to provide details about the court's new oversight -- and whether it provides adequate privacy protections. President Bush authorized the spying program after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, allowing the National Security Agency to bypass court review and conduct domestic surveillance of people suspected of links to terrorism. The program, which a federal judge last August declared unconstitutional, monitors phone calls and e-mails between the United States and other countries when such a link is suspected. On Jan. 17, the day before the Senate hearing, Gonzales announced that the court had assumed oversight authority of the surveillance program a week earlier, and had already approved at least one warrant targeting a person suspected of having terror ties.
Poster Comment: Expect blacked-out sections when referring to "sensitive" organizations...
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